'The Tallest Tree in the Forest'

Where: Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles

When: Through May 25. 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays. No 8 p.m. performances April 25, May 3 and 16. No 6:30 p.m. performance May 11. No public performances May 13-14. No 1 p.m. performance May 25.

As a theatrical subject, Paul Robeson is a daunting challenge, but that doesn’t stop people from trying. “The Tallest Tree in the Forest,” Daniel Beaty’s ambitious, entertaining and flawed one-man show at the Mark Taper Forum, is the latest valiant stab at capturing a complex and tragic figure whose beliefs and career were enmeshed with the messy geopolitics of the mid-20th century.

“Tallest Tree” is an improvement over the adulatory look at Robeson by the recently departed African American playwright Phillip Hayes Dean, but it struggles with a task that is perhaps impossible: compressing a long, fascinating life full of adventure, contradictions, triumphs and miscalculations into an evening of theater for a single performer.

The hugely gifted singer, actor and champion of civil and economic rights left a conflicted legacy. In the first decades of a brilliant career, Robeson broke the color bar in Hollywood, on Broadway and in the concert hall and achieved international fame. But in the last half of his life, Robeson’s political beliefs and the causes he passionately pursued overshadowed his considerable artistic achievements. Condemned for his support of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, he lost his right to travel internationally for years and died in relative obscurity at age 77 in 1976.

Beaty’s show is directed by Moisés Kaufman, whose company, Tectonic Theater Project, specializes in turning real people and events into staged drama. We see the same meticulous historical research here as in the company’s “Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde” and “The Laramie Project.”

The story beings with a brief tour of Robeson’s childhood as the relatively privileged second son of a former slave, now an erudite minister. Young Paul learns patience and the virtue of turning the other cheek from his father, but inherits a bit of his older brother’s righteous rage, too.

The two-hour play touches upon Robeson’s career highlights, and unlike Dean, Beaty isn’t afraid to show us Robeson’s less attractive qualities. He is frequently unfaithful to his stalwart wife, Essie, a brilliant and educated woman who is largely responsible for plotting his early career successes. Enamored of the Soviet Union’s ostensibly equal treatment of all races, he later turns a blind eye toward Stalin’s monstrous sins. Robeson’s vanity and righteousness lead him to endanger his supporters during a turbulent time; a rally and concert in Peekskill, N.Y., ends in a riot between his supporters and an angry throng of protestors.

Beaty and Kaufman certainly did their homework – you leave feeling as if you know Robeson’s career and interests intimately – but in the effort to be comprehensive they cram in too much information. The result is many perfunctory scenes that seem too servile to the plot and lines that are too on the nose. There’s no room for subtlety or inference. Derek McLane’s simple set emphasizes direct address; sometimes this show feels like a lecture.

As a performer Beaty does a heroic job, playing not only Robeson but a huge gallery of characters famous and obscure, from Russian film director Sergei Eisenstein to President Harry Truman. The effect is a bit dizzying at times, and some portrayals are more persuasive than others, but all in all it’s an impressive display of craft.

Beaty also performs many of Robeson’s most famous songs (we hear snatches of “Ol’ Man River” three times), and while he sings with conviction he doesn’t have Robeson’s famous basso or his impressive gravitas – who does? Beaty is supported during the songs by a capable onstage trio: music director Kenny J. Seymour on piano, Glen Burger on woodwinds and Ginger Murphy on cello.

Taken as a whole, “Tallest Tree” is a noble if imperfect attempt to capture a life that was too full to be presented by one man in a single evening. But it leaves you with an afterimage that I think sums up Robeson’s life: He had the courage of his convictions, even if that courage sometimes blinded him.

As brought to life by Beaty, Robeson seems less like a legend and more like a real, flawed person – one whose talents and beliefs propelled him onto the world stage and into our political as well as cultural history. Loved by some, reviled by others, his significance can be debated but never denied.

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